Recognising Sepsis as a Health Priority in Sub-Saharan African Country: Learning Lessons from Engagement with Gabon’s Health Policy Stakeholders

Sepsis has been recognised as a global health priority by the United Nations World Health Assembly, which adopted a resolution in 2017 to improve sepsis prevention, diagnosis, and management globally. This study investigated how sepsis is prioritised in Gabon. From May to November 2021, we conducted a qualitative study in healthcare stakeholders at the local, regional, and national levels. Stakeholders included the Ministry of Health (MOH), ethics/regulatory bodies, research institutions, academic institutions, referral hospitals, international funders, and the media. Twenty-three multisectoral stakeholders were interviewed. Respondents indicated that sepsis is not yet prioritised in Gabon due to the lack of evidence of its burden. They also suggest that the researchers should focus on linkages between sepsis and the countries’ existing health sector priorities to accelerate sepsis prioritisation in health policy. Stakeholder awareness and engagement might be accelerated by involving the media in the generation of communication strategies around sepsis awareness and prioritisation. There is a need for local, regional and national evidence to be generated by researchers and taken up by policymakers, focusing on linkages between sepsis and a country’s existing health sector priorities. The MOH should set sepsis reporting structures and develop appropriate sepsis guidelines for identification, management, and prevention

On Prioritising Global Health’s Triple Crisis of Sepsis, COVID-19 and Antimicrobial Resistance: A mixed-methods study from Malawi

Sepsis causes 20% of global deaths, particularly among children and vulnerable populations living in developing countries. This study investigated how sepsis is prioritised in Malawi’s health system to inform health policy. In this mixed-methods study, twenty multisectoral stakeholders were qualitatively interviewed and asked to quantitatively rate the likelihood of sepsis-related medium-term policy outcomes being realised. Respondents indicated that sepsis is not prioritised in Malawi due to a lack of local sepsis-related evidence and policies. However, they highlighted strong linkages between sepsis and maternal health, antimicrobial resistance and COVID-19, which are already existing national priorities, and offers opportunities for sepsis researchers as policy entrepreneurs. To address the burden of sepsis, we recommend that funding should be channelled to the generation of local evidence, evidence uptake, procurement of resources and treatment of sepsis cases, development of appropriate indicators for sepsis, adherence to infection prevention and control measures, and antimicrobial stewardship

Reducing the burden of tuberculosis and sepsis in Gabon: Clinical and epidemiological investigations for improved control

Each year, an estimated 1.5 and 11 million people died of tuberculosis and sepsis, respectively. Most cases occur in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). Gabon is listed in the top 30 tuberculosis/HIV high-burden countries. Studies performed for this thesis investigated the contributors to the burden of tuberculosis and sepsis in Gabon and suggested actions for improved control

Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding tuberculosis amongst healthcare workers in Moyen-Ogooué Province, Gabon

Background: In countries with a high tuberculosis incidence such as Gabon, healthcare workers are at enhanced risk to become infected with tuberculosis due to their occupational exposure. In addition, transmission can occur between patients and visitors, if a tuberculosis infection is not suspected in time. Knowledge about tuberculosis and correct infection control measures are therefore highly relevant in healthcare settings. Methods: We conducted an interviewer-administered knowledge, attitude and practice survey amongst healthcare workers in 20 healthcare facilities at all levels in the Moyen-Ogooué province, Gabon. Correctly answered knowledge questions were scored and then categorised into four knowledge levels. Additionally, factors associated with high knowledge levels were identified. Fisher’s Exact test was used to identify factors associated with high knowledge levels. Results: A total of 103 questionnaires were completed by various healthcare personnel. The most-frequently scored category was ‘intermediate knowledge’, which was scored by 40.8% (42/103), followed by ‘good knowledge’ with 28.2% (29/103) and ‘poor knowledge’ with 21.4% (22/103) of participating healthcare workers, respectively. ‘Excellent knowledge’ was achieved by 9.7% (10/103) of the interviewees. Apart from the profession, education level, type of employing healthcare facility, as well as former training on tuberculosis were significantly associated with high knowledge scores. Attitudes were generally positive towards tuberculosis infection control efforts. Of note, healthcare workers reported that infection control measures were not consistently practiced; 72.8% (75/103) of the participants were scared of becoming infected with tuberculosis, and 98.1% saw a need for improvement of local tuberculosis control. Conclusions: The survey results lead to the assumption that healthcare workers in the Moyen-Ogooué province are at high risk to become infected with tuberculosis. There is an urgent need for improvement of tuberculosis infection control training for local healthcare personnel, particularly for less trained staff such as assistant nurses. Furthermore, the lack of adequate infection control measures reported by staff could possibly be correlated with a lack of adequate facility structures and protective equipment and requires further investigation